


Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Let Down Your Hair

by slytherykin (sweetkidlousycook)



Series: bb Snape and Lily stories [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Childhood, Friendship, Gen, Gender Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-02
Updated: 2014-08-02
Packaged: 2018-02-11 09:48:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2063496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetkidlousycook/pseuds/slytherykin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Archiving old fics.</p><p>Ten-year-old Severus Snape is fairly sure that girls get rescued, not boys, but Lily Evans has a bit of a saving people thing.</p><p>(warnings for implied violence and child neglect apply)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Let Down Your Hair

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes I hate that Eileen's maiden name is Prince, it made the original title I used on LJ (Princes In Towers) seem like a bad pun so I've changed it here. There are also some minor edits.

Severus Snape knew how girls and boys were supposed to act. His parents were intelligent but petty and far too engrossed in their own grand romantic drama, so the gender roles he had imprinted on were solid, uncompromising and more about attack and defence than a union. He knew through actions and words that boys lead dances and girls followed their steps, that boys acted and girls responded, and that when they grew up men worked and shouted while women cooked and cried, although all of them could drink themselves silly if they wanted. Most of all he knew that princes climbed through the windows of supposedly unassailable towers and rescued downtrodden, imprisoned princesses - his paternal grandmother had read him enough Muggle fairy-tales to know that for sure. So he didn't really know what to think when he heard the tap at the window and Lily telling him to let her in in a stage whisper.

He jumped out of bed, suddenly self-conscious about his old, ill-fitting pyjamas, and ran over to the tiny window with an embarrassing spring in his step. When he'd met Lily Evans a year and a half ago her being a girl hadn't seemed like a big deal in comparison to her being magical, other, different from everyone else, like him but infinitely better. He went to her house (logical and sensible, obviously, because even he didn't like his house and he was supposed to regard it as home sweet home, so what would a stranger think?), they met in the park or the little copse, and everything was fair and good for once. So what on earth was she doing at his window?

"Let me in, Sev, I can't hold on much longer!" she hissed again, tapping a staccato rhythm on the pane. Her voice was coming through loud and clear from the gaps in the wood and Severus couldn't believe he'd ever been annoyed at them, even if they made the room intolerably cold, because at least now he could hear her.

"Shh, my mum and dad are sleeping, if they wake up we'll get in trouble!" He glanced over his shoulder reflexively but there were no sounds beyond his father's muffled snoring through from the other bedroom.

"Hurry up then, before the drainpipe breaks!" She glared at him through the glass; only the top of her head was visible and when Severus looked closer out into the darkness he could see that she was indeed clinging on to the drainpipe for dear life with her hands and bare, bruised knees, skin looking bloodless and frozen. He unlatched the window quickly, cursing his shaking hands with words he wasn't supposed to know. She ducked out of the way as the window opened outwards, then clambered onto the window sill and promptly fell on him.

"You're bloody freezing," said Severus as they both got back onto their feet, brushing the grime and soot carried from the outside of the house off their robes.

"Don't swear," she replied with a slight giggle. "Yeah, that's probably why I couldn't keep my balance. I can't feel my fingers much." She pressed her hands together and blew into them, the smudges of dirt making her look like a little Victorian chimney sweep. He walked back over to his bed, picked up the rough woollen blanket that served as a top cover and handed it to her. She wrapped herself up in it as if it were a cloak and smiled widely. "Ooh, do I look like a proper witch now? I wish we had something to use as wands, then we could play at being at Hogwarts."

Severus dearly wished that they could have a fake duel and then go downstairs and attempt to make potions, if only with kitchen herbs and soap, but his father had locked his bedroom door after today's incident, and anyway he had too many questions. The worry must have shown on his face, because Lily had stopped examining the blanket and was looking straight at him quizzically. He tried to smile but it didn't feel right so he just said it. "Why are you here? And how'd you get here?"

"I'm here to rescue you, silly." She said it as if it were the most normal and obvious thing in the world to turn up at a friend's window at three in the morning wearing a dressing gown, a nightdress and PE pumps. "You were really upset yesterday so I thought you could do with rescuing for a little bit. And I walked here, Tuney's always going on about how you live near the mill, plus you said that your dad's got a bike and there's one outside so I thought it was probably this house." She could obviously tell that his mouth was framing another question and he was slightly annoyed when she guessed what it was. "Everyone was asleep, so I just sort of left. Mum and dad'll be angry if they realise I'm gone but as long as I get back before lunchtime it should be okay, they always have a lie in on Saturday mornings. Right, now it's my turn to ask questions!" She rubbed her hands together gleefully and he rolled his eyes. "Why are you even awake? I thought I'd have to shout and wake you up or something like that."

Severus shrugged. "I don't know. Too - " _Sad. Cold. Lonely._ He didn't finish the sentence, just stared at his feet and pretended to be interested in the floorboards.

She knew not to push it any further and he was insanely grateful. Instead she just smiled at him. "Come on, Sev, let's go. It'd be a pretty shoddy rescue if we didn't actually leave your room."

He couldn't help smiling back, he never could, and he couldn't find it in him to reject the offer. After all, if they went out they'd only have to brave the weather and the possibility of being caught; if they didn't she would have to walk home in the dark alone and he would have to spend the whole night regretting the loss of an opportunity for her to make him forget the world. The fact she was still insistent on it being a rescue mission riled him a little but really it couldn't be the other way around, there was nothing to save her from.

"We should go downstairs and get some coats, I think it might rain." She pulled off the blanket and chucked it back on the bed, then went to the door and grabbed the handle. It turned but nothing happened and she frowned. "Why's it locked?"

Severus shrugged. "I got upset and a plate broke..."

Lily's expression softened immediately. She was always very kind about the situation with his parents, the way his untrained magic sometimes got the better of him when he was emotional, even if he knew she'd never really understand. Her parents were so nice in their Muggle-y sort of way, even to this ragtag stray their daughter had brought in from the rough side of town. Another one of the millions of reasons he wished he could spend all his time with her. "It's okay. We'll just have to hide in a shed or a bus shelter or something, and we can go to my house and play Scrabble if it gets really bad out there."

"Haven't you brought anything?"

"You really think I'd run out without thinking? I didn't have time, I thought Tuney might wake up and see me. I managed to find a torch and a bag of liquorice allsorts though, I left them on the doorstep when I climbed up. They're not much but they'll have to do," she said, the look in her eyes daring him to say something sarcastic. He didn't rise to the bait any further than a slight smirk. "Right, off we go then."

They both walked over to the window, Severus pausing only to shove his shoes on and grab the old shirt he often ended up wearing for a little extra warmth. Lily climbed out first, and the drainpipe creaked dangerously as she went down. He swung his legs over the window-sill and stared down at her. It suddenly seemed like a huge distance. He bit his lip and grabbed the pipe, climbing down using his knees and hands. He was almost at the bottom when suddenly the pipe gave one last loud creak and detached from the wall. He grabbed Lily's hand and landed on his feet but the pipe wasn't as lucky. It fell to the ground with a crash that sounded deafening in the night, knocking over the metal rubbish bin which spilled its contents out over the pavement with yet more noise.

"Oh - " Severus bit down another swear word as dogs started barking and lights turned on all along the terraced street. His stomach churned with fear as he heard his father.

"It came from outside his room, Eileen, of course it was him. Where the hell did you put the key? I told you we should lock the bloody window." His speech was slurred with sleep and maybe drink, and Severus could easily picture him, the tense way he would be standing and the expression of fury on his face.

"There isn't even a lock," replied his mother, sounding tired but not yet defeated. "What do you want me to do, put bars on it? Or use charms to imprison my only child?"

"Shh! Do you want the whole street to know?"

Lily tugged at his hand. "Come on, Sev! Run!"

She didn't need to tell him twice. They sprinted down the road and Severus didn't look back. His knees ached and his skin was getting goosebumps but he kept going, high on adrenalin and the fact that even though he was going to suffer for this when he finally had to go home it didn't matter at all anymore. They ran down the cobbled streets and through the little alleyways and didn't stop until they reached the river where they collapsed, breathless but smiling and leaning on each other for support.

Lily's smile faded from her face much too fast. "I'm so sorry," she gasped. "You're going to be in trouble now, aren't you? Because of me."

"Don't worry about it. He'd find something to get angry about, at least this way..." he faltered yet again. Talking about it was hard, every last bit of it. What was the point in going over and over the sadness and the hopelessness and the way he couldn't help but rely on her?

"What?" She looked at him curiously, illuminated by light pollution reflected from the clouds.

"Never mind. You're right, it's freezing." He rubbed his hands together in an attempt to get some blood back in them.

"Come here." She pulled him into a hug and they sat there for a while, his head on her shoulder, and Severus knew that none of it mattered, his parents, who took the lead, who followed, who did the rescuing, just so long as she was there. The world would change when they got out of this pathetic town and went to Hogwarts, would spread out in a mass of possibilities and ways to make himself into someone better, someone stronger and more powerful and worthwhile who could help her for a change, but until then this was all he needed.


End file.
